Carb Cycling, Heavy Lifting and Gluconeogenesis help

On Lean Gains/Carb Cycling, if I eat low carb prior to my weight lifting session then I up my carbs , let's say 3 medium potatoes. Will it prevent gluconeogenesis ? Will my muscles use amino acids for fuel ? I don't want to eat potatoes pre workout, because I don't want to burn blood sugar and want to maintain my leanness. On my lifting days, I eat like an animal post workout. I am just concerned about the pre workout nutrition.

If I have my biggest meal post workout (as required) this won't happen right ? What would the be the ideal amount of carbs before training. Currently I am 108lbs very lean and muscular. 17 years old.

You don't want to eat potatoes pre-workout, because as you said it will be stored as fat if your muscles aren't insulin sensitive (like they are after a workout). You want to eat only fibrous veggies (lettuce, broccoli, etc.) with your pre-workout meal(s), where you can eat as many as you want because the fiber will blunt the insulin response (and subsequent fat storage). For your PWO meal, eat big and eat carbs. I'm not sure how many potatoes, but 2-3 small/med sized ones should do the trick. The idea is that PWO you're insulin sensitive, so the carbs won't be stored as fat, but you can spike your leptin levels and lower your body's set point and get leaner as a result. If you eat starchy veg before the workout, it would defeat the purpose of the carb cycling. As for gluconeogenesis, if you don't overload on the carbs (eat some lean protein too - grass fed meat or lean grain fed cuts) then your sugar won't spike much and you'll be back in gluconeogenesis world in no time (i think; i mean, blood sugar usually drops ~1hr after a carb-heavy meal and after a few hours corrects itself, so i'd assume it'd be even less than that for you - gluconeogenesis a few hours later - note: this won't impede amino acid uptake into muscle, just amino acid burning for fuel for a li'l).

You will only store carbohydrate as fat if you overfill your glycogen stores. Carbs are not stored directly as body fat. Are potatoes ideal to eat while you're sitting on your ass doing nothing? Probably not because they instantize in your body. Fruit would be a better option. But a potato isn't going to make you any fatter than eggs. If you overconsume calories, some of those excess calories will be stored as fat. Period.

This. When you get a lot of carbs, you actually store the incidental dietary fat as fat, not the carbs. De novo lipogenesis doesn't happen as often as the low-carbers make you believe. They make you believe you eat carbohydrate and insulin swoops in and stores it all as fat. That hardly ever happens, meanwhile all the fat on that grassfed ribeye is mobilized much more easily. It's the calories.

Originally Posted by Fernaldo

If you are running lean gains, hit your macros for each day. That's all you need to worry about...

I strongly disagree. Maybe if you only care about body composition and not health. The Leangains Facebook wall pretty much proves young men don't give two shits about their health as the meals are typically disgusting (love the blue pancakes up there now...). Focus on quality of food first, then body composition. Chances are, body composition will naturally follow a clean diet. If that doesn't happen, then pay a little more attention to macros.

Last edited by ChocoTaco369; 08-09-2012 at 01:17 PM.

Don't put your trust in anyone on this forum, including me. You are the key to your own success.

You will only store carbohydrate as fat if you overfill your glycogen stores. Carbs are not stored directly as body fat. Are potatoes ideal to eat while you're sitting on your ass doing nothing? Probably not because they instantize in your body. Fruit would be a better option. But a potato isn't going to make you any fatter than eggs. If you overconsume calories, some of those excess calories will be stored as fat. Period.

This. When you get a lot of carbs, you actually store the incidental dietary fat as fat, not the carbs. De novo lipogenesis doesn't happen as often as the low-carbers make you believe. They make you believe you eat carbohydrate and insulin swoops in and stores it all as fat. That hardly ever happens, meanwhile all the fat on that grassfed ribeye is mobilized much more easily. It's the calories.

I strongly disagree. Maybe if you only care about body composition and not health. The Leangains Facebook wall pretty much proves young men don't give two shits about their health as the meals are typically disgusting (love the blue pancakes up there now...). Focus on quality of food first, then body composition. Chances are, body composition will naturally follow a clean diet. If that doesn't happen, then pay a little more attention to macros.

This wasn't a suggestion to follow IIFYM (if it fits your macros). I just meant at the end of the day what really matters is you are hitting your LG macro ratios (within your feeding window) . Now, what those macros consist of? That's another story. I was assuming the OP was eating primal foods to begin with.

I agree the Facebook LG page is littered with horseshit meals; the junk bowls make me laugh. Who the hell wants to eat pop tarts, cheerios, pudding, pretzels, cookies etc... all mixed together?

Last edited by Fernaldo; 08-09-2012 at 02:56 PM.

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